In a “distributed denial of services attack,” Anonymous attacked following a worldwide raid on the MegaUpload site that netted the arrests of 7 of the company's officials. MegaUpload redistributes movies and music, as well as other intellectual property over the internet.

Experts estimated that it took no longer than 5 to 6 minutes to shut down the websites once Anonymous' forces organized and began to flood the sites with traffic.

No less than 6 U.S. Senators who had sponsored or advocated anti-piracy bills that would shut down internet services' use of copyrighted material reversed their positions.

For now, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate version of the law, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, are dead in the water.

Newsmen nationwide said the development signaled a clear victory by Silicon Valley over Hollywood and the intellectual property lobby.

Such internet services as Wikipedia and Reddit closed down for the day to symbolize their chagrin against SOPA, a bill authored by Texas Republican Representative Lamar Smith.